This invention relates generally to devices for facilitating the making of radiographs for medical applications, methods of making such devices and methods of using such devices.
It is a common practice in the taking of medical X-rays to place a preshaped lead marker on a portion of the patient's body to be examined. This marker serves to provide a visual reference point in the resultant X-ray film to facilitate the reading of the X-ray. In particular, one of the most common instances of such a use is in the taking of mammary X-rays. Thus, in such applications a lead ball-like marker is disposed on the patient's nipple and the X-ray taken. The resulting mark which appears on the X-ray film provides the radiologist with a visual indication of the location of the nipple as a reference point to other body structures shown in the developed radiographic image.
Marking devices in the form of plural elongated radioopaque members disposed parallel to one another on a substrate, e.g., a sheet of transparent plastic, have also been used by being disposed across a portion of the patient's body being X-rayed (or CT scanned) to provide a series of parallel lines in the developed image to facilitate the location of desired internal body structure(s) in that image.
While such prior art marking devices are generally suitable for their intended purposes they nevertheless leave something to be desired from the standpoints of ease of use, weight, cost, disposability, etc.